We care a great deal about our local economy and want it to prosper in good times and bad.

That is why we are giving away an East County Stimulus. It’s our very own stimulus package for East Multnomah County.

Entering is Easy

Simply visit Enter to Win page and either fill our our online entry form or download our paper entry form, and you’ll be entered. You can enter once a day.

It’s that easy!

Spread the Word

Help spread the word about our contest by sharing this post with your family and friends, so they too can learn more about TryLocalFirst.org.

The contest runs from June 15th – July 25th.

The program will be promoted to our previous thousands of contestants who entered to win our two “$1,000 Shopping Sprees” (one in the Fall of 2008 and one in 2009) and last summer’s “Discover East County Packages”.

It will also be promoted locally by all Coalition Members of Try Local First with information regarding the contest being promoted in local newspaper and on the Try Local First contest page as well as the Gresham Area Chamber of Commerce website and other Coalition members websites.

The promotion will begin in mid June and entries will be accepted for 30 days. Winners will be selected based on the previously selected guidelines and presented at the Center for the Arts Plaza “Street Dance” event the last weekend of July.

Those businesses that contribute prizes to the “East County Stimulus Package” will be listed on the Try Local First website and those that contribute prizes with a retail value of $100 or more will receive a link to their website, if requested. They will also be mentioned in as many promotional materials and presentations as possible.

The goal of the contest is to promote East County businesses as well as local events that contribute to the economic well being of our community.

The Home Show will be held June 11 and 12, 2010 at the Holiday Inn, 2725 NE Hogan Drive in Gresham. The event runs Friday, June 11 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and Saturday, June 11 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Admission is $3.00 per adult or $2.00 with a donation to My Father’s House Community Shelter , and $2.00 per child age 6-12 or $1.00 with a donation to My Father’s House. Children 6 and under are free.

For more information, please contact i4 Marketing at 971.235.3120.

The Gresham Barlow Education Foundation presents the 2010 Bagels & Books event with Oregon author Phillip Margolin, New York Times best selling author of Gone, But Not Forgotten.

Phillip’s other books include:
Supreme Justice
Fugitive
Executive Privilege
Proof Positive
Lost Lake
Sleeping Beauty
Ties That Bind
The Associate
Wild Justice
The Undertaker’s Widow
The Burning Man
After Dark
Gone, But Not Forgotten
The Last Innocent Man
Heartstone

The event will be held at Grace Community Church, 800 SE Hogan in Gresham.

Please RSVP to attend this event by Friday May 21st to the Gresham Barlow Education Foundation at 503.766.0008 or info@gbefkids.org.

Check out the event sponsors:

• Jazzy Bagels
• Books 4 Giving
• Shammai Rockove, M.D.
• Honke Heating
• Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center
• Historic Downtown Gresham Kiwanis Club

The Gresham Area Chamber of Commerce and Try Local First will be hosting an Advanced Facebook class on Monday, May 17th.

The class will be held from 5:30-7:30 pm at Portland Adventist Elementary.

Class topics include:

• Internet marketing
• Strengthening your brand
• Increasing buzz about your business
• Driving traffic to your business
• Improving your social media presence

The class costs $25 for individuals who preregister or $30 at the door. Space is limited, so sign up today.

RSVP to Julie at the Gresham Chamebr at 503.665.1131 or julieh at greshamchamber dot org

Snacks and drinks will be provided.

Just show your key tag to the business sponsors listed on the web-site start saving money today and support your local businesses at the same time.

Shopping Spree Winner Gloria Smith with Try Local First's Bess Willis

Gloria Smith noticed the brightly green wrapped boxes in local stores last Christmas (2008) and she filled out a form and entered to win the local $1,000 Shopping Spree.

Then later on in the year she entered to win a Discover East County Package and when she heard the winners announced at the 4th of July Blue Lake Park Fireworks Event she did not hear her name but was impressed to see that yes someone did win and these Try Local First promotions were for real. So when she received the e-mail announcing the 2009 Shopping Spree Event she took the time to enter once again.

Life gets busy and Gloria was over halfway across the United States caring for a sister that was having eye surgery when she visited a local library to check her e-mail – yes, Gloria, there is a Santa Claus as what to her wondering eyes did appear an e-mail from Try Local First stating that she was the winner of the 2009 $1,000 Shopping Spree. Persistence does pay and a little good karma doesn’t hurt either.

Speaking of good karma and paying it forward, when asked what she intended to do with her Holiday Spree the first words out of her mouth were that she was going to her local Church and get some Angels off the tree – you see each Angel has a child’s name who needs a little something this Christmas and Gloria was happy to spend a portion of her $1,000 helping other less fortunate have a little brighter Christmas.

And, of course she intends to spend the entire $1,000 locally because she understands that will enable someone else to spend local and the circle of local economic health stays well and those locally in need are given assistance. Try Local First is truly a happy ending story that had no ending if we all make that extra effort to spend our resources in East County!

The walk will begin at 1:30 p.m. with a group discussion at Café Delirium, a local independent coffee shop in Gresham’s historic downtown. He will meet with members of Gresham’s Try Local First campaign to discuss the importance of making local purchasing decisions to help the local economy.

At approximately 2:15 p.m., Bemis and representatives from Try Local First will visit five local merchants to discuss how their businesses are doing and to talk about how the City might be of assistance to them.

In these difficult market conditions, Bemis hopes to draw attention to the importance of thinking locally when making purchasing decisions, and continue his efforts to promote business friendly policies at City Hall.

Mayor Bemis holds Neighborhood Walks quarterly, and uses them as opportunities to connect and learn about issues going on in Gresham. City Councilor Carol Nielsen-Hood, who is also the Executive Director of the Gresham Chamber of Commerce, will join Bemis for the visits.

Walk Itinerary (times are approximate):

1:30 p.m.
Café Delirium
308 N Main, Gresham, OR 97030
Meet with representatives from Gresham Try Local First Campaign and business owner Cody Clark.

2:15 p.m.
Cynthia’s Floral
312 N Main, Gresham, OR 97030
Meet with store owner, Cynthia Loaffler.

3:00 p.m.
Elegantly Funky
101 N Main, Gresham, OR 97030
Meet with store owner, Kerry Parmenter.

3:45 p.m.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (Gresham Town Fair)
700 NW Eastman Parkway, Gresham, OR 97030
Meet with General Manager Rich Rhames.

4:30 p.m.
Borders (http://www.greshamstation.com)
687 NW 12Street, Gresham, OR 97030
Meet with General Manager Julie Nelson.

What’s so important about this idea of using local merchants, suppliers and contractors? What difference does it really make whether you buy your new (fill in the blank) from an East County merchant, a Portland department store or online for that matter?

Is there any way to measure the impact of an individual decision to acquire goods or services locally? The answer is emphatically yes.

One local business made a commitment to hire a local design team and a local general contractor to expand its Gresham senior housing community. The direct economic impact within the community has been phenomenal. Ask the Gresham-based general contractor, PDG Construction Services, or any one of roughly 20 local material suppliers, vendors and specialty contractors who are benefiting from this owner’s decision and commitment.

Or, ask any one of the 260 construction workers, many of them living in East County, who will be employed during the 15-month expansion. Ask Axis Design and Engineering, the local design firm that spent a year in planning, designing and permitting the project.

Mary Beisley, administrator for Courtyard Fountains, explained her company’s philosophy behind the decision to hire local professionals to design and construct its Phase III mixed occupancy facility.

The project contains 44 assisted living units, 15 luxury independent senior apartments, a secured parking garage, commercial kitchen and dining facility, offices and common areas for residents.

The structure is 77,300 square feet and the cost of construction is approximately $11 million.

The owner and Beisley were adamant about using local companies because they knew local firms would take a greater personal interest in the quality of design, execution and final quality of the facility. Gresham is a relatively small community, so local contractors and trades people are committed to performing at the highest level.

Being involved in Courtyard Fountains is a great opportunity for many local firms and each of them want to have a successful outcome to promote their businesses. Further, this local business-to-business commitment has created strong ambassadors among the contractor’s team for the Courtyard Fountains’ future occupancy. It’s a win-win in every direction.

From a practical standpoint, most observers would understand and agree with this assessment. However, is there a real metric that can be looked at to measure the economic impact to the local economy, when a “buy local first” commitment is made?

The Center for Strategic Economic Research is a Sacramento-based consortium that has done specific research into this question. These researchers analyzed the economic impact on a regional economy from various types of construction projects. Courtyard Fountains neatly fits into a health care and institutional building category. The findings are revealing.

Every $1 million of construction supports 11.7 total jobs; 6.8 direct jobs plus another 4.9 jobs through indirect and induced activities. Also, each $1 million of construction cost creates an additional $770,300 of additional economic output through indirect and induced activities.

Direct impacts are the initial, immediate economic activities (jobs and income) generated by the project that correspond with the first round of spending in the economy. Indirect impacts are the production, employment and income changes occurring in other businesses in the community that supply inputs to the project and/or industry.

Induced impacts are the effects of spending by the households in the local economy as a result of new jobs created by the facility.

Beisley — the Courtyard Fountains administrator — estimates that the new staff positions required for operation will create 50 new jobs.

According to this sophisticated economic analysis model, Courtyard Fountains’ commitment to “buy local first” will have an overall economic input to the East County regional economy of almost $20 million.

That really matters, especially in light of the current economic conditions.

It makes a difference every time anyone makes the commitment to buy from local merchants, suppliers, contractors and service providers.

And, the talent and resources are locally available to accomplish almost anything. Ask your local chamber of commerce or check its Web sites for help in finding resources.

Brian Lessler is president of PDG Construction Services in Gresham and also is 2009 president for the East Metro Economic Alliance.